Provincial airports face huge rise in passengers as number of air travellers is set to soar

By
Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 12:43 AM on 27th December 2011

Airports outside London are likely to expand significantly, according to government predictions.

While expanding Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted has  been ruled out by the Coalition, the number of passengers  using regional airports could  double by 2050.

The predictions are likely to anger environmental groups and those who live near airports.

Grounded: Passengers attempt to check in at London's Gatwick Airport (File photo)

Grounded: Passengers attempt to check in at London’s Gatwick Airport (File photo)

Figures buried in a document produced by the Department for Transport indicate that the number of passengers passing through the country’s airports will rise from 372million a year in 2008 to 540million in 2050.

While growth in London and the South East will be modest, although Luton will take an extra 7million passengers, traffic to regional airports will increase significantly.

Manchester will see the number of passengers it handles soar  from 30million to 56million a year by the middle of the century, a rise from 321,000 flights a year to 500,000. The number of people passing through Teesside airport is projected to increase from  3million to 10million a year.

Expansion is also expected at Plymouth, which is likely to see its passenger numbers quadruple to 4million a year by 2050.

The predictions threaten to undermine the Coalition’s  promise to be the ‘greenest  government’ in British history.

Sharing the load: With London's airports unable to process any more flights, regional hubs such as Manchester are expected to see an increase in passenger numbers, according to the figures

Sharing the load: With London’s airports unable to process any more flights, regional hubs such as Manchester are expected to see an increase in passenger numbers, according to the figures

A spokesman for the Campaign to Protect Rural England said: ‘It is not just that airport expansion of this scale would trample over villages and sprawl across Green Belts.

‘All the extra flight paths needed would criss-cross the countryside so much that by 2050, trying to find tranquillity in much of the English countryside could become as hard as looking for a needle in a haystack.’

Stephen Joseph, chief executive of the Campaign for Better  Transport, said: ‘If the Government goes ahead with massive expansion of regional airports, it  will face a storm of protest, not just from people around the  airports but also under the  flight path.

‘The Government needs to review its forecasts on which this is based and recognise that some of the plans are completely fanciful.’

 

Here’s what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts,
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MrMickRoach So you want to put ebven more taxes on the poor hard working man in this country, who is lucky if he can afford one holiday a year?
Have you actually any idea how much taxes and surcharges a passenger already pays?
Just keep going to Blackpool, it suits your type.

Easy way to stop this put fuel duty on Airlines. Cars, lorries, buses, taxis, ships and trains have to pay, why don’t the Tory party doner airlines?

yes they will all be trying to leave this god forsaking country…i along with my family will leave a,s,a,p

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